Trio facing charges in multi-agency opioid bust

BILLERICA -- Three people are facing a mandatory eight years in prison if convicted of charges leveled against them Wednesday as a result of a multi-town investigation into what police called "large-scale" trafficking of Percocet, a prescription pain-killer linked to heroin abuse.

Billerica Detective Sgt. Frank Mirasolo said police seized more than 100 grams of 30-milligram Percocet pills, also known as "Perc 30's," when they made three arrests on Wednesday.

Mirasolo said in a prepared statement that the arrests were prompted by a joint investigation conducted by Billerica, Tewksbury and Chelmsford police and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.

Mirasolo estimated the drugs were worth about $10,000 on the street, an assertion backed up by numerous sources in recent years, who have said Percocet and Oxycontin typically sell on the street for about $1 per milligram.

All three are charged with conspiracy to violate the controlled-substance act and trafficking more than 100 grams of a Class B substance. The latter charge carries a mandatory minimum sentence of eight years in prison.

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The connection between prescription painkillers like Oxycontin and Percocet, which is a combination of acetaminophen and Oxycodone, has been described as an "epidemic" by legislators, police, and drug-treatment specialists in recent years.

State Rep. Tom Golden, D-Lowell, Tewksbury Police Chief Timothy Sheehan and former Lowell Police Superintendent Kenneth Lavallee are among those who have used that description.

Golden has been working to curb prescription-drug abuse for years now, ever since friends approached him trying to get help for a loved one who later overdosed.

Treatment specialists and police say drugs like Percocet, which have legitimate medical uses and which are safe if taken as prescribed, are a gateway to heroin addiction and death.

Percocet contains oxycodone, an addictive opioid, so once someone gets addicted to Percocet, which sells for about $1 per milligram on the street, they soon find themselves unable to support their habit.

"Perc 30's," like those seized in this investigation, typically sell for about $30 a pill, while 80 mg Oxycontin pills typically sell for about $80 per pill.

As a result, many people addicted to prescription opioids will make the transition to snorting heroin, which at $5 to $10 per bag is vastly cheaper than prescription pills even though it provides essentially the same high.

Heroin used to come with the stigma of sticking a needle in your arm, which kept most people from trying it, but heroin has grown more pure in recent years and can now produce a high if snorted, eliminating the stigma of intravenous drug use.

"Nobody, nobody would immediately stick a needle in their arm. That's not how this works," Golden said. "I've talked to folks who had careers and jobs, and they said to me on more than one occasion, 'I never thought I'd be snorting it. I never thought I'd be shooting it.' "

Once an addict begins snorting heroin and their tolerance to the drug continues to build, the leap to injecting it is often a short one as they need more and more of the drug to get high.

Public-health officials in Massachusetts and in Lowell have said deaths due to opioid overdoses have increased significantly in recent years as the issue has exploded into segments of the population, and into rural communities where opioid addiction was rarely an issue before.

Billerica police said Hartmann, Varley-Barrett and Callahan will be arraigned Thursday in Lowell District Court.

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